Badlands x Reckoner
by BigBoneLuvr69
Summary: A tale of forbidden love between two competitive-league maps.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Another day, another scrim. Badlands was well-worn ground, every curve and cranny explored by every last competitive player in the community. Loved for her carefully crafted forms, she was feeling past her prime. The old slut of the map community. Everyone knew what she had in store, the same stagnating meta. She sighed, dust shaking from the metal shacks, staring longingly into her own vibrant, seductive afternoon sunset. She was tired of players. When would another map notice her?

Other maps. What were her acquaintances up to? She checked her phone.

Hightower had uploaded a few new pictures: one of her, earlier the previous day, of selling her home-grown plants at the market; one later the same night getting smashed at a pub with Suijin. Those two really knew how to party, but Badlands never really felt like she fit in with their company. She continued scrolling.

Gravelpit had finally decided to get professional help with her split personality disorder. Good for her! Badlands had never really gotten along with her because of symmetry reasons, but had always respected her for her unique qualities regardless.

Further down she scrolled, skipping by familiar face after another. Pipeline, Lumberyard, Vanguard, Sunshine – she paused. The one that got away. Even though they had both agreed things couldn't work out, Badlands was never able to forget her bright blue skies, her stunning pair of lighthouses, a sewer route that wouldn't quit – she scrolled away, then back, unsure what to do about the feeling beginning to grow in her spawn rooms, when she noticed someone in the background of the photo.

It was a map she didn't recognize. She looked a bit similar to Sunshine, but a bit more homely. There was nothing remarkable about her form, no landmarks to behold, but something about her spoke to Badlands. Her layout was immaculate, and while her details lacked refinement, they were a breath of fresh air, something Badlands wanted ever so deeply. She felt a calming, her sunset growing in warmth.

No. There are roads that shouldn't be traveled down again. She looked away from her phone. Even if things could work out, it wasn't worth the emotional risk. Badlands had a competitive community to support, and if she had another breakdown like she did before, that would be the end of that. She had to remain strong, remain safe. This was her life now, and it didn't allow for instability anymore. How Badlands wanted to be in alpha again, to be free of responsibilities!

She didn't have time to think about all of this. Dreamhack was tomorrow, and all of her colleagues would be there, including Sunshine. Time for some rest.


	2. Chapter 2 - Competition

Reckoner was feeling nervous. This was her first big gig, and she had big shoes to fill! Beta 2 was barely legal age for going pro. She didn't have a choice though – Sunshine was feeling sick, and being a relative, Reckoner was most suited to fill the slot. No time like the present, she supposed.

She went over the map list to know who she'd be meeting. Granary and Snakewater, she recalled, had both recently gotten out of surgery. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one who would be feeling shaky about the whole affair. Product, the lone KotH map. Gullywash, who she wasn't familiar with at all. Process, her childhood crush that she tried not to think about much. Lastly, the map she wanted to impress the most, Badlands. An established favorite. _If only I can get on her good side_ , Reckoner thought, _I'll be in many more LANs yet to come._

It was time for the LAN to start. Games came, and games went, and after 5 grueling matches, it was down to the finals – Perilous vs. nameLess. Reckoner almost didn't want to get picked for the match because she was nervous she might mess up. However, with Perilous on the docket, it was only inevitable that she'd be in the spotlight. Sure enough, she was. Reluctant yet excited, Reckoner assumed her position on the map queue.

Badlands didn't get picked, which was a relief. Not because she was nervous about putting on a good show – after all, she had over 8 years of experience under her belt – but because she wanted to watch the match. That map she had seen the previous day, the one that had excited her so, her name was Reckoner. After one map into the match, it was time for her newly found crush to perform.

She watched with bated breath as the two teams began to play. The way the combatants pushed connectors and flowed through her lobby was like butter. Pushing out of last still needed work, but the promise she showed was something else. Badlands caved in under an emotional height that she hadn't reached in years. The cost of not being with Reckoner had surpassed the cost of potential loss.

5 rounds later, an exhausted yet enthusiastic Reckoner left the stage, making eye contact with Badlands. They both smiled at each other in a weary, admiring, and slightly aroused way. Badlands had a feeling that she'd be reckin' her later that evening.


	3. Chapter 3 - Encounter

The maps all found themselves both frustrated and kicked out of Dreamhack, one because of the other. Reckoner didn't understand what was happening. Was this normal? Did they do something wrong? Did _she_ do something wrong? In front of Badlands? What if Sunshine found out that she messed up? One thought after another carried away until she found herself alone, huddled behind a parked bus outside the venue.

Badlands, the ever watchful, saw this and followed to console her. With hesitance, however, as she didn't trust herself not to be acting selfishly. Despite the action she got on a regular basis, it had been a while since she had felt something as strongly as she did now. It had been a while since her Sun had begun to set.

Reckoner, staring at the ground, didn't notice Badlands until she was directly beside her in the same slouched position. Even if either one of them knew how to speak, neither knew what to say.

Badlands reached out with one of her trains to comfort Reckoner, but she shied away, Badlands responding in kind, resting her offering on the ground. After a long silence, Reckoner hovered one of her forklifts towards the train, and rested it on top.

They both looked at each other, smiled, and kissed, without saliva. It wasn't a good kiss from a technical perspective, but neither party minded. Badlands knew best that skill comes from experience, and Reckoner was a very willing student. Badlands moved closer, feeling nervous breath gently swaying her cables.

She began to extend her train tracks outside her boundaries and into Reckoner's, slowing yet continuing as Reckoner reacted to the unfamiliar sensation. Without a 3D skybox, there wasn't much ground to cover before she was right outside Reckoner's clipping. Reckoner gasped as this boundary, too, was broken.

The tracks began to extend through mid, underneath her bridge, the vibration from the train's wheels making Reckoner clench her doors in excitement as the center of her pleasure moved across her gently rolling hills. She let out a quiet shout as her mid was captured, her face frozen in an expression that only made Badlands even more aroused.

Her train continued through connector towards second as her second car continued down the track, moving back and forth over mid. Reckoner felt something brush up against her shack, snaking around to her second point. Finding it difficult to focus on both sensations at once, she surrendered, letting the feeling carry her. She was completely at Badlands' mercy, and she didn't like to play slow. Reckoner was too far gone to notice when her second was captured, a signal lost to the ocean of noise that she was lost in, like ripples on a blank shore.

Badlands unlinked both of her trains, splitting into four separate cars, the three following cars each stimulating a different area of her partner, who began to moan. She continued in through lobby, tickling individual stalks of bamboo, each eliciting a small strained vocalization. The train winded its way through, covering as much ground as possible, the moaning growing louder with every tie of track laid. Badlands hesitated as she approached the final point, savoring the sound. Then, she pulled the trigger.

Reckoner herself went silent, but her former mountain, in the process of becoming of a volcano, filled the silence. Everything shook. Reckoner's entire layout began to bend in half, the roar of the eruption slowly turning into her own orgasm-fueled moan of a map possessed. In a panic, Badlands tried to pull her trains out, but they pressed up against the doorways that had swollen themselves shut. The pressure only made Reckoner even louder.

The other maps, still frustrated by recent events, heard all of this. They did headcount and noticed who was gone, and put two and two together. Some lost bet money was exchanged, and the overall mood improved by a marginal, if awkward, amount.

Badlands was worried, looking at the crumpled, shuddering, blushing mass covered in sticky lava that her partner had become. Had she gone too far? She tried to retract her trains as discretely as possible, eliciting a small shake from her friend-become-pile.

A few minutes passed as Reckoner recovered. She looked up at Badlands with a look of aggression that caught Badlands off guard, who laughed nervously. Suddenly, with unexpected energy, Reckoner leapt, pinning Badlands to the ground, leaning in to kiss the side of her cheek. They both felt something they hadn't before: For Reckoner, a feeling of control, and for Badlands, a feeling of admiration, something never shared between her and Sunshine. Badlands was too busy processing the emotion to notice that both of Reckoner's forklifts were doing donuts around her midpoint. She let out a low yelp as it was captured. Reckoner was going faster than Badlands expected, and it intimidated her.

The sensations that followed confused Badlands. She expected movement towards her spire, which she got. What she didn't expect was to feel movement in the opposite direction towards her other spire at the same time. _She's a quick learner,_ a thought that was quickly interrupted by an unanticipated but very welcome tongue spelunking the underside of her bridge. Her partner's lack of experience only made things more interesting. She began flexing her bridge in response, which only made Reckoner more aggressive. _Good girl._

Both of her spires were captured simultaneously, seizing Badlands' entirety. Without time to recover, she felt both of her lasts start to capture. Badlands, in her older age, braced for impact as the wall hit.

After the initial impact, she felt nothing, and could hear nothing but a slight buzz. Then, vibrations from either side of her began to grow in intensity and move steadily towards her mid. As the quakes passed, they dislodged anything in their way, props thrown and brushes separating. She began to leak. Her ability to feel began escaping into the void, the numbness reaching its peak as the vibrations hit her center.

 _La Petite Mort._


	4. Chapter 4 - Epilogue

Badlands woke up to see a relieved Reckoner and a Sunshine somewhere between frustrated and amused. Badlands gave an embarrassed smile and sat up in bed. Looking over, she saw a fourth party, a human. He gave her a stern look. "You should know better than this. A map of your age takes quite a while to recompile." He turned to Reckoner, and continued, "That means you need to be careful too. Make sure you know each other's limits, okay?"

Noticing Reckoner's frown, he reassured her. "You, on the other hand, compile relatively quickly. Your friend here can do whatever she wants." Everyone laughed except Sunshine.


End file.
